Comcast CFO Says Big Cable Deals Thing of the Past

By Shalini Ramachandran and William Launder

Big cable companies have gotten bigger in recent years by buying smaller operators, but don’t expect the trend to continue, cable executives said today at an industry conference.

“We frankly would rather buy back stock” rather than buy smaller players said Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis at a Goldman Sachs conference.

There’s a “disconnect” between how the private market and public market values cable systems, he said.

For evidence, just look at the sales multiples paid by private equity in recent months for small operators like Knology, which agreed to a $1.5 billion offer, bearing a 9.4% premium, to go private in April.

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